WHYS is going to be travelling to America for President Obama’s 100 days, and we need some help.

We’d like to find a small town in Indiana or which can help us assess what’s gone right or wrong. What I have in mind is somewhere was divided on election day, which is racially mixed, has a range of industries, has a population of under 75,000, and wouldn’t mind me, Mark and Shaimaa showing up.

As a native Hoosier, I’d pick Kokomo, Terre Haute, Anderson, or Muncie (The order indicates no particular priority.) They seem about the size, demographic mixture, insularity and representative nature (of the state as a whole) to perhaps be suited to your purpose. Most others in the specified size range are perhaps too linked economically to a large metro area, racially or politically homogeneous, or too provincial. Anyway, that’s my two cents worth.
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As a former Mid-Westerner, you should know 2 things about Indiana:
1.) It’s the birthplace of the “Smileyface”
2.) It’s the birthplace of the “Good Sam” clubs.

DIGRESSION DEAD AHEAD!
I originally hailed from Michigan, BUT if you ever go to Ohio, a great town to broadcast from would be Bellefontaine, Ohio. (Despite its looks, its pronounced “BELL fountain ” ) It’s the County Seat of a mostly rural area, with all the problems and charm of the US’ midwesterners. The people are great there, and not coincidentally, my brother is the Logan County Prosecuting Attorney. He would welcome you into his home and heart, and regale you with stories of his many terms in office, what its like to run for office in a rural area, and what it takes to be a small town hit by big city crime. By the way, he’s a life-long Republican and I’m a hard-core Democrat.

Indiana is also the HQ of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) and according to the Southern Poverty Law Center has the greatest percentage of its population who are members of white power/racist organizations than any other state in America.

The state is also a bit szchizophrenic. The most populous part of the state is the two NW counties who identify themselves as being a part of Chicago — Chicagoland — rather than Indiana. The state is also divided into two time zones as well.

Indiana is a depressing place to visit, and I cannot imagine why President Obama would highlight the state for any reason except that maybe the focus of international attention on the state might lead to social progress within Indiana.

Any excuse to spend the British taxpayer’s money on a junket to the USA to find a parachute out of the UK. Why not check the real estate and job ads. I’m sure you’ll find something that suits you to a tee. Indiana has a wide range of places to suit any temperment unless you must live in a large city. If so, try Chicago.

If you are looking for a small town in Indiana I would suggest Mitchell It’s claim to fame is an astronaut named Virgil Gus Grissom A friend of mine by the name of Phoebe lives in Mitchell Her father was a doctor Everybody in the town loved him Her mother was a member of the DAR I met Phoebe when she was a librarian at West Point Military Academy when I was doing research on a book project Phoebe’s next job was at the Library of Congress in Washington DC Phoebe lives in the home she grew up in Mitchell She is a Democrat LIke many small towns in the mid west in the US Mitchell is very hard pressed economically

I lived in the USA 20 years and travelled quite a bit including around Indiana. I like small town. There;s a author/journalist named Angie Richart Lawburgh who wrote The River In Me and I think she lives in Mulberry and works for a local newspaper. For someone who has lived in a small rural area she has surprisingly been there and done everything! She would make a very interesting guest, I’m sure.

Try Richmond, deep in the corn belt, population 39,000, economically struggling, home to four small colleges, somewhat racially diverse.

Historically it’s near a central node in the Underground Railroad (which spirited enslaved people away to freedom) and also was a stronghold of the Ku Klux Klan (which used terror to keep blacks subsurvient).

You would have no trouble finding someone at Earlham College to welcome you and introduce you around.

What town in Indiana to visit is a question of what your goals and real intentions are. For a sampling of what can happen in a parochial, bible thumping backwater, littered with hypocracy, then stay away from the college towns.

Like everywhere there are gems in cities across the state, but one of the most diverse is West Lafayette. W.L. is home to a large university which represents 126 countries, industries that span from nanotechnology to dog food production and everything in between.

Not only is W.L. a great cross section of the state it is also located halfway between Chicago and the capitol, Indianapolis. The population of permanent residents is just under 30,000 with a population near 70,000 when the university is in session.

And let’s face it, W.L. is also one of the few places Mark and Shaimaa will find anything to do in their down time, like catch a Basketball game, stop by Greyhouse, or stop at one of the college bars.

As of the 2006 census estimate, there were 65,287 people living in Muncie. …The racial makeup of the city was 83.72% White, 12.97% African American, 0.27% Native American, 0.79% Asian, 0.09% Pacific Islander, 0.67% from other races, and 1.49% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.44% of the population.
Muncie was lightly disguised as “Middletown” by a team of sociologists, led by Robert and Helen Lynd, who were only the first to conduct a series of studies in Muncie—considered a typical Middle-American community—in their case, a study funded by the Rockefeller Institute of Social and Religious Research.[4] In 1929, the Lynds publishedMiddletown: A Study in Modern American Culture. They returned to re-observe the community during the Depressionand published Middletown in Transition: A Study in Cultural Conflicts (1937). Later in the century, the National Science Foundation funded a third major study that resulted in two books by Theodore Caplow, Middletown Families(1982) and All Faithful People (1983). Caplow returned in 1998 to begin another study